Wrigley Field 1060 W

LANDMARK DESIGNATION REPORT Wrigley Field 1060 W. Addison St. Preliminary Landmark recommendation approved by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks, November 1, 2000, and revised March 6, 2003 CITY OF CHICAGO Richard M. Daley, Mayor Department of Planning and Development Alicia Mazur Berg, Commissioner Cover: An aerial view of Wrigley Field. Above: Wrigley Field is located in the Lake View community area on Chicago’s North Side. The Commission on Chicago Landmarks, whose nine members are appointed by the Mayor, was established in 1968 by city ordinance. The Commission is responsible for recommending to the City Council which individual buildings, sites, objects, or districts should be designated as Chicago Landmarks, which protects them by law. The landmark designation process begins with a staff study and a preliminary summary of information related to the potential designation criteria. The next step is a preliminary vote by the landmarks commission as to whether the proposed landmark is worthy of consideration. This vote not only initiates the formal designation process, but it places the review of city permits for the property under the jurisdiction of the Commission until a final landmark recommendation is acted on by the City Council. This Landmark Designation Report is subject to possible revision and amendment during the designation process. Only language contained within the designation ordinance adopted by the City Council should be regarded as final. Wrigley Field 1060 W. Addison St. (bounded by Addison, Clark, Sheffield, Waveland, and the Seminary right of way) Built: 1914 Architects: Zachary T. and Charles G. Davis Alterations: 1922, 1927-28, 1937, and 1988 “One of the most beloved athletic facilities in the country . to be in Wrigley Field is to celebrate baseball as it was—and to discover the startling ability of a piece of architecture to evoke that time with easy grace.” – Paul Goldberger, architecture critic, New York Times, 1988 “Wrigley Field is a Peter Pan of a ballpark. It has never grown up, and it has never grown old.” – E. M. Swift, Sport Illustrated magazine, 1980 “I’d play for half my salary if I could hit in this dump all the time.” – Babe Ruth, outfielder, New York Yankees, 1932 “Every time I go to Wrigley Field, I have memories of earlier times. They bring back good thoughts and energy.” – Ernie Banks, infielder, Chicago Cubs, 1994 As one of the oldest baseball parks in the United States, Wrigley Field is a rare survivor of baseball’s “golden age” of the 1910s and ‘20s. Together with Boston’s Fenway Park and Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field (demolished), Wrigley has been called one of baseball’s original three “jewel boxes.” Originally built in 1914 to house a team in the now-defunct Federal Baseball League, Wrigley Field has been home to the National League Chicago Cubs since 1916. For five decades (1921-70) it also served as the playing field of the Chicago Bears football team. Its original name was Weeghman Park, but by 1920 it had become known as Cubs Park. It was renamed Wrigley Field in 1926, following its purchase by chewing gum magnate William Wrigley, Jr. Commonly referred to as the “friendly confines,” Wrigley Field has been universally acclaimed for its intimacy, charm, and distinctive urban setting. Many observers consider it to be the most beautiful baseball park in the world. It was ranked “red” in the Chicago Historic Resources Survey, a distinction given only 200 other structures citywide, including such world-class landmarks as the Board of Trade, Reliance Building, Robie House, and the Old Water Tower. 1 Ballpark Description The nearly eight-acre site includes several structures arranged around a large playing field of grass: a double-decked, partially covered, steel-and-concrete grandstand, a single-deck outfield bleacher area, and a large center-field scoreboard. The seating capacity of the ballpark is approximately 39,000. The building’s exteriors along Addison and the Seminary Street right-of- way are a 56-foot high, three-story, open steel-frame structure (built 1914), with a slightly pitched roof punctuated by dormers and topped by a 1½-story upper deck (1927-28) that is set back from the main facade. A steel structure supporting floodlights (1988) tops the upper-deck roof. Much of the ground level of these elevations is enclosed, although it is interrupted periodically by entrance gates or ticket windows. The upper “floors” are either open (with fencing), infilled with windows (for offices), or covered by solid concrete panels (installed c.1970). The south facade forms a curving wall along Addison Street, while the west facade forms a fairly straight edge along the former Seminary Street (west). The building’s main entrance gates are set into a curving facade that faces the corner of Clark and Addison. The Waveland (north) and Sheffield (east) elevations are lined by a continuous one-story wall. Roughly half its length is brick; the remainder is formed by concrete panels. At the corner of these streets is a three-story, open steel-frame structure that forms the support for the outfield bleachers (built 1937). It is topped by a large (27-feet tall x 75-feet wide) solid structure that forms the back of the ballpark’s main scoreboard. Due to the varying height of the bleachers, which slope downward from the center, a portion of the ballpark—as seen from inside—is visually enclosed by the row of buildings that face Waveland and Sheffield avenues, opposite the ballpark. Most of these are masonry structures, three stories in height and often topped with smaller grandstands or roof decks. Ballpark History The ballpark now known as Wrigley Field was constructed in 1914 on a 7.7-acre site that formerly housed four wood structures belonging to the Chicago Lutheran Theological Seminary, which had relocated to the suburb of Maywood in 1910. The property was leased in late-1913 to Charles Henry Weeghman, who had recently purchased a baseball team, the “Chi-Feds,” in the newly formed Federal Baseball League. Weeghman and his partner, William Walker, hired brothers Zachary T. and Charles G. Davis to design a new ballpark for their team. Zachary Davis had gained fame a few years earlier as the architect of Comiskey Park (1910-1991), which had been quickly acclaimed the “Baseball Palace of the World.” However, Davis reportedly used New York’s Polo Grounds (1911), home of the Giants and Yankees baseball teams, as a model for the new North Side ballpark. The groundbreaking was held in early March 1914 and, amazingly, the single-deck grandstands (800 feet long x 100 feet deep x 56 feet high) were finished in time for opening day on April 23, 1914. In accordance with a new city ordinance, the structure was “100-percent fireproof,” built of steel and concrete. 2 The contractor was Blome Sinek Co. The cost listed on the building permit was $250,000. The dimensions of the playing field were: 310 feet (from home plate to the left field corner), 440 feet (center field), and 316 feet (right field). Following a successful first season, the team was renamed the “Whales” and Weeghman Park’s capacity was expanded to 18,000. After winning the 1915 league championship, however, the league folded. As part of the settlement, Weeghman and nine other investors (including William Wrigley) were permitted to buy the city’s National League franchise, the Chicago Cubs, and move them from their old home at the West Side Grounds (Polk and Wood) to Weeghman Park. Two seasons later Weeghman’s interests were bought out by Wrigley and the ballpark was soon renamed “Cubs Park.” In 1922 Wrigley hired architect Davis to expand the size of the ballpark, which had recently acquired a new tenant, the Chicago Bears football team. Davis’ plan called for sections of the grandstands behind home plate and down the left-field lines to be moved closer to Addison and Waveland, permanent outfield grandstands to be constructed, and the level of the playing field to be lowered by three feet. The remodeling cost $300,000, and the field’s new dimensions were: 325', 447', and 318'. The ballpark’s new capacity was 20,000. The biggest ballpark modifications, however, took place during 1927 and 1928, when the grandstands were double-decked down the third base and first base lines, respectively. These changes increased the park’s capacity to 38,400 and enabled the Cubs to be the first baseball team to surpass one million attendance in a single season. (Because the new upper deck was set back from the face of the lower deck on the exterior, part of the lower-deck roof and its rooftop dormers remain visible from the street.) At this same time, it appears that a small brick building, located next to the left field corner gate, was constructed to house a six-room apartment that was occupied by the Cubs groundskeeper during the 1930s. “The bleachers in center rise bravely toward the prow of the great green scoreboard, topped by a single lofty mast, its rigging aflutter with signal pennants . which customarily tell of happier news in other places.” – Roger Angell, “Season Ticket,” 1988 The last major change to the ballpark’s layout occurred in 1937-38 when the outfield grandstands were replaced by the current boomerang-shaped bleacher configuration. In addition, a new state-of-the-art, 27- x 75-foot scoreboard was constructed atop the center field bleachers, featuring a combination of hand- changed and electronic scoring. These alterations were designed by the Chicago architecture firm of Holabird & Root. The ballfield’s new dimensions were 355', 400', and 353', which they remain today.

Load more